


when love arrives

by idlesong



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, First Dates, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Texting, and a blip of past markhyuck, small mention of substance use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 06:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14688561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idlesong/pseuds/idlesong
Summary: The cute boy spotted on the train isn’t quite who Donghyuck expects him to be.(a sequel towhen love comes along)





	when love arrives

“Just text him first,” Mark says with an exasperated sigh. A part of him was surely suggesting it to see his best friend not writhe in despair any longer, but another part of him was just sick of hearing Donghyuck whine about how the “hot tennis player guy” whose name he so masterfully discovered on Facebook wouldn’t reach out on Tinder.

They matched not even a week after Donghyuck hatched his plan to find him there, but it’s been two days since then, and there was nothing but an empty chat box to show for it. It was tantalizing, really, to have the opportunity to make the first move, but it was also daunting. What was the most appropriate greeting? How does he say something compelling enough to warrant an equally interesting reply? What would give off the best impression of himself while not being too far from the truth?

Donghyuck’s been mulling over these questions for an agonizing 48 hours or so. They’ve been just as bad for Mark, possibly even worse. It seems the older boy’s dorm room has become Donghyuck’s new default shelter to sulk. It seems as though any space in which Mark becomes comfortable also becomes one of Donghyuck’s. The previous year had been especially lonely for both of them, with Mark having moved away to university and Donghyuck still living in their neighbourhood.

“Quit using heterosexual texting etiquette,” Mark says to his friend curled up at the foot of the bed. “Just text him first. It’s not that serious.”

Donghyuck emerges from the cocoon of his catastrophe to sit up and stare right at Mark. “You’re right,” he says, almost appalled to admit it. “I can’t believe I just got schooled by the straightest guy I know.”

“I was literally your first kiss,” Mark says pointedly, loudly flipping to the next page of his economics textbook.

“Hush, hetero.” Donghyuck isn’t looking at him anymore, Tinder’s logo of flames reflecting off his phone screen and into his eyes. If Mark didn’t know any better, he’d say Donghyuck actually had fire in them.

The still empty chat box is pulled up on the app, and Donghyuck stares at it with the focused energy of a painter in front of their blank canvas. He considers the crucial choice—what should he say? How does he convey all of his charm and personality into a single text?

Just then, an idea hits him, and his epiphany is so genius that a plan of equal intellectual stature would only come around in the next millennium.

“I’m gonna send him a meme,” Donghyuck says under his breath, opening the folder of photos he had on his phone for purposes such as these. Mark gives him a quizzical look before returning his attention back to his reading. He knows better than to question Donghyuck.

 _Donghyuck (4:48 p.m):_ [[attached image]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/86/72/d1/8672d14bdf906f95c2f914a43723c4cd.jpg)

 _Yukhei (4:48 p.m):_ [[attached image]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/73/09/0c/73090cf6a19d586909516c031ac7609b.jpg)

Donghyuck chucks his phone in Mark’s general direction, startled. It hits him in the chest, causing Mark to look up in an equally frightened manner.

“Dude, get your iPhone away from me,” Mark complains, tossing it back at his friend.

“He texted me!” Donghyuck yells.

“He texted you first? Or he replied to you?” Mark asks.

Donghyuck hurriedly crawls up the bed on his knees and plants his ass on Mark’s textbook, straining the spine that rested precariously in his lap. Grabbing Mark by his (surprisingly broad) shoulders, Donghyuck utters, “I don’t know.” The words possess an underlying streak of fear. “He either replied to me instantaneously or sent me a meme at the _exact_ same time that I did.”

Mark, unfazed, reaches for the mug of tea on his nightstand. It’s likely a precautionary measure to deter Donghyuck from shaking him by the grip he has on his shoulders. It was a very real possibility.

“Just text him back with actual words, maybe?” Mark suggests, but is somehow made to feel foolish for saying such a reasonable thing with how quickly Donghyuck shuts him down.

“You don’t understand,” Donghyuck says solemnly. “This changes _everything_.”

 

Donghyuck decided shortly afterward after hearing and ignoring more of Mark’s opinion to wait a minimum of 24 hours before making another move. It would give him enough time to recuperate from that unforeseen development as well as think of what he should say next. He needed to say something to sweep past the memes and transition into a proper conversation.

Twenty-four hours, he decided.

Except Yukhei, clearly _insane_ , texts Donghyuck the next day at seven in the morning. It’s a non-verbal message again, simply an emoji of two eyes. To Donghyuck, they look inquisitive.

“Well played,” he mumbles softly, seeing the notification upon waking up. It was a power move to message him so early in the morning, taunting Donghyuck by giving him the whole day to reply. But waiting for too long would be rude. Damn. Donghyuck was dealing with a mastermind here. From one loose cannon to another, he needs to take a risk.

 _Donghyuck (10:07 a.m):_ hi

That was enough work for the day. Your move, Yukhei.

 _Yukhei (10:08 a.m):_ hey there!

Donghyuck nearly drops his phone in shock. This time it was definitely a reply. And now he was in the situation where he couldn’t _not_ respond at an equally rapid rate. Never in his young life had he ever encountered such baffling actions. Good thing he likes a challenge.

 _Donghyuck (10:11 a.m):_ i’m donghyuck, nice to meet u.

 

The more Donghyuck talks to Yukhei, the more he thinks that Yukhei isn’t purposefully trying to throw him off of his usual texting conduct, but just that Yukhei just doesn’t have any to speak of. Even if Donghyuck replies to him a few hours later than when he first receives a message, Yukhei usually texts back immediately. No longer did the rule of having to wait an allotted amount of arbitrary time to reply seem to matter. It’s almost like there’s no restraint there. How curious.

Yukhei talks a lot. That’s good, because Donghyuck does too. The confines of a text conversation have disadvantaged Donghyuck before, with its unspoken rules about emojis as punctuation, appropriate situations for keyboard smashes, or whether “:)” was an expression of happiness or a threat against one’s life. However, with Yukhei, it seems like it’s best to just turn his brain off about it and just talk to him instead.

“You’re finally becoming an adult,” Mark comments from his desk, and Donghyuck sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry in response. He wouldn’t stand for such disrespect within the threshold of his own dorm room.

“You can be an adult and still text without proper capitalization, you know,” Donghyuck says, giving a pointed look to Mark, who’s already putting in his airpods to drown him out with shitty SoundCloud rapper music.

Donghyuck begins to complain about the lack of attention. Mark shushes him. The laments are set to continue regardless when Donghyuck’s phone pings once more.

 _Yukhei (8:37 p.m):_ are u busy this weekend??

Donghyuck sucks in a sharp breath. Although he had been _trying_ to stop calculating Yukhei’s actions, his spidey senses had been telling him it’d be at least another few days before either of them even approached the idea of meeting up. Either Donghyuck’s suppositions are flawed, or Yukhei’s just an absolute wild card.

For the sake of his ego, Donghyuck is going to bet on the latter.

 _Donghyuck (8:39 p.m):_ i’m free fri  
_Donghyuck (8:39 p.m):_ what’s up?

After sending his replies, he tosses his phone to the side, pulls his laptop in front of him, and opens Facebook. He brings up Yukhei’s profile, most of its information still unavailable to Donghyuck, and aimlessly scrolls through it. Trying to find out more about him over the past week or so had been a less than fruitful process.

The only person that even vaguely connected their very unconnected circles was Renjun, who knew Yukhei as an acquaintance of a friend. That friend was Jaehyun, who Donghyuck knew nothing about beyond the quality of his pot brownies. The trail went cold not far after that.

Yukhei plays sports, likes pizza, and is tall. Those were the details he chose to put out into the world on his Tinder profile. It’s fine, endearing even, but Donghyuck still wants to know more.

Perhaps asking him would be the best option, Donghyuck considers. It’s a route with less maneuvers than he was used to. Mark would be proud, and Donghyuck would tell him about it too, if he wasn’t so occupied with his English paper. Nerd.

Having engrossed himself in all of this thought, Donghyuck then remembers he was waiting on a text. Yukhei, as per his usual fashion, had replied far faster than Donghyuck had ever expected someone to.

 _Yukhei (8:41 p.m):_ i wanna meet u and hear whether ur  
voice matches the one i’ve made up for u in my head

 _Donghyuck (8:57 p.m):_ what’s that voice sound like?

 _Yukhei (8:59 p.m):_ dipsy

 _Donghyuck (8:59 p.m):_ dipsy?

 _Yukhei (8:59 p.m):_ the green teletubby

 _Donghyuck (9:00 p.m):_  ...so what did u wanna do

 _Yukhei (9:00 p.m):_ idk what do u like doing (:

 _Donghyuck (9:01 p.m):_ i’m not picky so ur choice!

That was a lie. Donghyuck is picky, but he thinks Yukhei will be entertaining enough to come up with something interesting. And if that falls through, then hopefully their conversation would be enough to carry them through the night. Maybe, just maybe, Donghyuck thinks, he should think less for once.

 

When they meet up at the train station, Yukhei is by far the easiest person to spot amongst the comparably puny commuters. The guy is huge, so much taller than the guys who would describe themselves as being tall on Tinder usually turn out to be. How had Donghyuck not noticed how tall he was when he had first seen him? (Because he was staring at his face and arms and wide ass chest instead.)

“Donghyuck?” Yukhei calls out to him first, his loud voice booming in equal volume to the intercom announcements playing overhead.

Donghyuck’s first instinct to hearing his name be spoken so loudly is to run, before he realizes the situation didn’t require a level 4 fleeing. Instead he (very coolly) strolls over to where Yukhei stands, gives him an easygoing smile, and says, “Hey.”

Yukhei grins and gives him a handshake that leads into a half-hug that practically suffocates Donghyuck in the expanse of his chest for a moment. If he’s being entirely honest, he didn’t mind it that much. The interaction made Donghyuck note that Yukhei smelled so very…boy, like axe deodorant and aftershave and leather, although the last one was due to his wearing a leather jacket. This observation is the first predictable thing about him so far.

From thereon, Donghyuck hasn’t been able to find many more. He and Yukhei chat easily throughout their short train ride, Yukhei saying Donghyuck sounds different but not _so_ different from Dipsy that it throws him off. Donghyuck has no idea what the fuck that means.

So far it was just a little stiff in the way that first dates can be, the walls of politeness and formalities needing to come down gradually. They’re otherwise impenetrable by inorganic forces.

Donghyuck thinks Yukhei is unlike most guys he’s dated before, just in that Donghyuck’s not sure how to pin him. He thought he knew enough about the whole athlete-shtick to understand what kind of person Yukhei would be, but nothing could have prepared him for the hyper gassed up thunder clap of energy with flailing limbs that Yukhei actually is. Donghyuck likes it.

 

When Donghyuck asked what Yukhei had planned he said it’d be a surprise. Donghyuck tried not to speculate too must on what it would be, but he certainly wouldn’t have thought of this. He’s strapping on the ugliest, grossest shoes he’s ever seen, hunched over a cracked leather seat as Yukhei goes on to pay for an hour in the furthest ten pin lane.

Yukhei places a hand in the small of Donghyuck’s back and gently leads him to the lane furthest down the alley. His assumable penchant for physical touch doesn’t breach into overstepping, most of him reaching out towards Donghyuck having some purpose beyond just the act itself.

“Your shoes are hideous too,” Donghyuck remarks, looking at the red and brown patchwork masterpieces gracing Yukhei’s feet. They were at least two sizes bigger than Donghyuck’s. Yukhei lets out another room-shaking laugh.

The small television set that hangs over their lane displays a fuzzy blue screen for their scoreboard. They find that it can only accommodate patrons to input names of five letters or less. Yukhei goes first, putting his down as “Xuxi”, and explains that it’s another one of his names upon being asked. (“Another one?” Donghyuck mouths, but Yukhei’s already turned back around to the screen.)

Donghyuck considers punching in “Hyuck” before deciding on “Dipsy” instead. Yukhei practically screeches when he sees the name flash on the screen. He’s so loud. What’s he so loud for? Donghyuck’s unsure, but it’s amusing.

When Yukhei gets up to bowl first, he reaches for the largest 15 pound ball. Donghyuck’s only mildly disappointed when it doesn’t look like an orange in Yukhei’s giant hands. With a spectacular amount of confidence, he takes a running start and slides across the slick floor. The ball rolls straight into the gutter…of the neighbouring lane.

Both Yukhei and Donghyuck bow in apology to the group of high school students whose game was just intruded on. Yukhei’s apologetic, but doesn’t show any additional hint of embarrassment, just afterward doubles over in laughter. Donghyuck finds himself laughing too, reacting to the ridiculous nature of the whole situation.

“Do you think I need to roll again?” Yukhei asks, pointing to the still blank scoreboard above them.

“Go for it,” Donghyuck says. “I’ll give you a freebie.”

 

Donghyuck can’t remember the last time it physically hurt to be laughing so much. It’s not necessarily being done on purpose, but Yukhei doing so much as exhaling will make Donghyuck lose his shit. But he’s funny when he tries to be too, or at least the attempt and the delivery is enough to make Donghyuck snort.

The bowling match is quickly revealed to be futile as a competition between the two of them. While Donghyuck, who hasn’t been to a bowling alley since elementary school, is average at the sport and able to knock at least five pins down, Yukhei is trash at it. He’ll pump his fist when the ball manages to stay in its lane, and even then, he’ll knock over about three pins at most with his heavy as fuck bowling balls.

That hasn’t seemed to deter Yukhei’s enjoyment of or excitement towards the game at all. He still jumps to his feet whenever it’s his turn and calls out a uniquely ungrammatical “fighting hweyadwe!” to Donghyuck whenever he gets up himself.

At first the exclamation of encouragement is starting and a little bit burdensome, but Donghyuck soon feels himself anticipating it every time it’s his turn to bowl. If he throws a look back towards Yukhei, he’ll be given a big toothy smile, a double thumbs-up, or on one occasion, a pair of finger guns.

“You got this, Dipsy!” he yells once, and Donghyuck laughs so much Yukhei has to get up to help him get his fingers through the holes of the bowling ball.

Trying to hold back any and all of his competitive instincts wasn’t much of a challenge when Donghyuck has been trying not to do _too_ well so as to not make the discrepancy between his score and Yukhei’s too large.

Around the halfway point, however, Donghyuck realizes he can’t physically make himself be as bad of a bowler as Yukhei. It’s kind of an incredible feat, really.

Yukhei’s bowling skills do not at all improve over the course of the game, regardless of how close or far he stands to the lane or how much he squats or bends over when he goes to roll the ball. Donghyuck knows he won’t be of much help in helping him do better, so he just gives him as many shouts of encouragement as he can while once or twice sneaking a peek at Yukhei’s ass.

On their very last round, Yukhei rolls a strike and looks to Donghyuck with widened eyes and an agape mouth. Donghyuck is, perhaps for the first time in his life, stunned into silence. He concludes that Yukhei is very, very strange.

 

Yukhei had spotted a pizza parlour in the same strip of buildings where the bowling alley is, so they decide on going there for their post-bowling post-dinnertime dinner. They’re eating two slices of pepperoni each as Yukhei blathers on about a show he’s been watching religiously lately. It’s an animated show, from what Donghyuck has garnered, one about an eccentric family and the antics they get up to.

It’s only partially difficult to discern what the show is about because Yukhei is more so focused on what he likes about the show as opposed to the show himself. He likes the rapport between the three kids, the humorously deadpan way some of the jokes are delivered, how the youngest daughter is unapologetically loud about everything she does. (She’s his favourite character.)

Donghyuck likes watching Yukhei get increasingly enlivened as he continues his explanation (of sorts). The fact that he’s still not exactly sure what the show is about doesn’t deter from how cute Yukhei is when talking about something he likes. It only takes a few more details for Donghyuck to put it all together and realize that he _does_ know what show he’s talking about.

“Wait! _Bob’s Burgers_ , right? I love that show too,” Donghyuck says, and just when the recognition is made, Yukhei’s face lights up in an expression of absolute joy. Donghyuck finds it precious, how excited he can get. He’s so used to seeing apathy and caring to not care, but Yukhei seems to be happy about the small things. It’s refreshing.

“Yo!” he calls suddenly, and Donghyuck raises an eyebrow in response. “Turn your head for me?”

Although confused at the request, Donghyuck does as asked of him, exposing the left side of his face to Yukhei’s weirdly intense gaze. Whatever dumb thing he did earlier to cause this—he’s betting it’s a smudge of pen from when he almost fell asleep during his lecture—he hopes isn’t dumb to the point where Yukhei is about to point out something embarrassing.

“The moles on your face…” Yukhei trails off, he drags his fingertip in the air as though he’s connecting the dots. “They form the Little Dipper.”

Donghyuck blinks back at him, confused. “The Little Dipper?” he repeats.

Yukhei takes out his phone, snaps a photo of Donghyuck, and places it on the table between them. With his fingertip he sketches out the lines that dart between the four moles on Donghyuck’s face and connects the shape to the one on his neck.

“See? It’s the Little Dipper,” Yukhei says, clearly pleased with himself for having noticed so obscure a thing. “It’s the constellation with the North Star. Really important for navigation back in the old days.”

Donghyuck blinks at him again. “How did you even—“ he begins, cutting himself off with a disbelieving laugh. He can’t even begin to unpack how he feels about Yukhei making such an observation, just that it’s baffling and charming all at once. Just like him.

“Are you into astronomy?” Donghyuck asks instead.

Yukhei shakes his head proudly. “Nope! I like astrology, but there weren’t any classes offered on it so I took astronomy instead. Can you believe that?” he asks. “By the way, what’s your sign?”

“Gemini.” The answer comes automatically, and Donghyuck immediately regrets not thinking it through when Yukhei suddenly looks _shocked_. Fuck, he should have said he was something more innocuous like Capricorn. Not once has he ever heard of someone being ridiculed for being a Capricorn.

“No way!” Yukhei chimes instead. “I’m an Aquarius. That means we’re really compatible!”

Donghyuck laughs at that, because of course. There doesn’t seem to be any self-censoring with Yukhei. It makes Donghyuck feel like he can talk freely, lob him any kind of question to receive an answer that will entertain him in some way or another. Something about Yukhei’s freewheeling disposition sits just right with Donghyuck.

At some point they compare hand sizes, and Yukhei does the corny thing of interlocking their fingers. It would have been an almost tender moment if he didn’t let out the loudest guffaw afterwards that caused everyone in the restaurant to turn and look at them. They meet eyes just then, and during the most silent moment of the night, their gaze lingers.

 

Yukhei insists on walking Donghyuck back to his dormitory to make sure he gets back safe. Any insistence on Donghyuck’s part that he’ll be fine is rebuffed by Yukhei’s insistence that it wasn’t a hassle.

“Your place is on the way to mine anyway,” he says, having slung an arm around his shoulder sometime after they had gotten off the train. Donghyuck can’t recall when it happened exactly, but he thinks that’s a good sign.

When Donghyuck tilts his head towards his red-bricked residence building, Yukhei almost looks a little sad to have to go.

“We should hang out again,” Donghyuck says. Yukhei nods immediately in agreement. The walls still need some more time to be broken down, and Donghyuck is happy to invest the effort.

Their feet stop in front of the double-doored entrance and they face each other in a knowingly familiar position. For a second Donghyuck thinks the moment to kiss has already passed, but then he finds Yukhei putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning down.

It’s a peck, over as soon as it started. When they pull apart, Yukhei has on the goofiest grin Donghyuck’s seen on him all night.

“It was really nice to spend time with you,” Donghyuck says.

“You too,” Yukhei says. “I’ll text you?”

They exchange their goodbyes. Yukhei pets Donghyuck’s hair before walking back towards the main street. As soon as he’s out of sight, as Donghyuck is fumbling for his keys to get into his building, he hears a loud triumphant cry that causes all of the pigeons in the vicinity to fly off.

Donghyuck smiles and thinks he might like Yukhei a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> what is UP!!! i wasn't planning on writing this but when i started thinking about it i realized i had enough for a fic so here it is. i hope you enjoyed it! i know the hyuckhei content is scarce out there but listen y'all...the day will come where hyuck and xuxi have their own handshake and that's when we'll know we have WON
> 
> the detail about hyuck's moles forming the little dipper is from [this tweet](https://twitter.com/nctfuIIsun/status/979072020364300289). isn't it such a wonderful thing to notice??
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/ten7s) | [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/idlesong)


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